Nerds Tour is Growing
Chawton House, Hampshire UK
Welcome to the expanded version of Nerds Tour, a place where we will be offering a full range of travel services to help those who want to learn when they travel. Let me take a moment to delineate a little of what that means.
Are You Still Doing Your Specially-Designed Tours?
Yes, I am planning and scheduling literary-based tours to Dublin, the north of Ireland, more Austen Adventures, and in the future, adding theatre tours. I’m in constant ideation about future tours and the people with whom I can collaborate. This is where I started and where my heart is because these are the tours I wish I’d been able to take.
A Nerds Tour is one where you immerse yourself in the niche interest of the up-to 11 other people with you. I began Nerds Tour with literary tourism because that’s my OG nerd. I was the girl with the flashlight under the covers at night reading a book; I disappeared into books because they allowed me to imagine far-away places and times.
I’m a voracious learner, so as Nerds Tour grows, future tours will expand into other nerd interests, featuring art history, architecture and, history; and beyond, including adventure nerds and STEM nerds.
What’s Different? What’s New?
Over the past months, I’ve been deep into training to expand Nerds Tour into a full-service travel agency. I spend my days thinking about travel. I have expertise in administration, management, touring, humanities, teaching, and this summer I have been learning about the intricacies of the travel industry and how to navigate it to support my client’s travel dreams. I receive my final certification in the next weeks.
The field of travel has really grown in the transition to the online travel sites. In many ways Kayak and other sites sought to replace the travel agency by scraping the internet for prices. If you’re just looking for a flight or a hotel, then they’re great! You can often find great deals there because they’re grabbing from the same places I am. Expedia and Travelocity are travel agents. They’re getting the same commissions I am. But, that’s where the difference ends. They don’t know who you are, they are very hard to reach, and they won’t stand by you if there’s a problem. That’s why travel advisors are making a big comeback these days. We’re mostly all online, but we are real people doing the work for real people. We will have a personal relationship that you won’t get with an on-line mega-agency. My next blog will be about how travel advisors work so that you can understand the differences.
I specialize in European travel because that’s where I’ve spent decades as a teacher. But, Europe is only the beginning of what I can help people with. It’s where I’m the best at curating nerd vacations. From Disney (I’m a Disney nerd!) to Iceland to the Mississippi River, I am onboard with helping you have the best vacation of your lives. Or, to draw on the “board” reference, I’m an certified expert in river and ocean cruising, as well. Maybe you want to visit a dude ranch, or do a driving tour of Iceland, I can help with that too.
How Can Nerds Tour Help You?
Nerd Tours - scheduled tours with professional tour managers. These tours are groups of up to 12 people who live and travel together to explore specific regions or artists.
Vacation Planning - let me help you design your solo, couple, or family vacation to wherever your dreams take you.
Groups - Gather together your nerd friends and let me help you design your own tour, with or without a tour manager. For example, I’m designing a group tour of British murder mystery film sites for a client right now.
Self-Guided Tours - choose one of our pre-designed tours and let us book it for you. We’ll provide you with a guide book, an itinerary, and book all the activities, ground transportation, and accommodations.
How Do We Work Together?
Use this link to schedule a meeting with me to discuss your travel plans. It’s most helpful if you’ve already made some decisions, especially around scheduling and budget. We can then jump right into making your travel dreams come true.
After that, I’ll book the accommodations, excursions, transportation, and anything else you’d like help with, to include restaurant reservations, theatre tickets, private drivers, among other amenities. And, I’m there to solve your problems should anything go wrong. Nerds Tour will be with you the whole way.
Here We Go
Travel allows us to engage in other cultures, eras in history, relive great moments in time and experience relaxing moments of serenity. Travels connects the human experience for us to identify and celebrate both the similarities and the differences. For me, travel has always been about seeing the things that I’ve only read about in books. The writers draw the imagery for me, but the place itself has a power of connection. I imagine the writer looking at the same place; I imagine the historic figures who had the same view; and, I feel connected to history.
I look forward to working with you! As Doctor Who says, “Allons-y!”
